A Bottle of Red
by The Redheaded Duck
Summary: a Billy Joel songfic taking place during the Marauder Era- mostly James, with OC. RR!
1. Default Chapter

The wind blew strongly outside as she rushed in the front door of her London flat. Shaking out her long, perfectly straight brown hair, bits of snow showered the owl that was waiting at her feet. She bent down to retrieve the letter clutched in his beak, and fished in her pockets for several bronze Knuts to pay him with. She continued to walk though the hallway; not noticing whom the letter was from. Kicking her shoes off, fixing a butterbeer, and finally relaxing in a chair, she looked at the signature handwriting on the envelope that could only mean one thing... 


	2. The Proposition

Sorry the last one was so short, I originally intended for this to be the first chapter, but I wanted a short prologue, so that was it. Hope you enjoy this one! R/R! ~the Redheaded Duck~  
  
Elisa, Corinne, Lorelei and Lindsay sat at the Gryffindor table of the Great Hall of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Elisa sat, applying layer upon layer of mocha lip-gloss. Lindsay was scribbling something on her napkin and singing under her breath. Lorelei clutched her knife in one hand and threw threatening glances over at the Slytherin table, and Corinne was devouring plates of bacon and eggs and cups of coffee. As she started to butter some toast, she shook her friends out of their trances and said, "I think we should ask out our guys". At that moment she chanced a look at the Slytherin table when she thought nobody was looking, to Lucius Malfoy, who she had liked for years. She knew her friends would hate the idea of her going out with a Slytherin, so she never bothered to mention it to them.  
Lorelei was just about to throw her knife Malfoy, (she had a habit of using her utensils as weapons against the Slytherins) when Corinne grabbed the knife and plopped it into her now-empty coffee cup. Lorelei glared again at Malfoy, who was sitting next to Severus Snape, and said darkly, "that's not gonna stop me". Elisa finally put her gloss back in her bag and questioned, "What guys? We don't have guys."  
  
"We've been at this school how long?" retorted Corinne, thankful for an excuse to take her longing eyes off Lucius. "Five years! And we've liked the same guys, for five years! Don't you think it's time we do something about it?  
  
"Well what can we do, Corinney?" Lorelei asked, using Corinne's nickname. "They're the guys, they should ask us out."  
  
"Coming from the hopeless romantic," interjected Lindsay, looking up from the poem she was writing.  
  
Lorelei gave her a look, but Corinne continued before the two could start fighting. "You know that the next Hogsmeade weekend is this Saturday...so I was thinking..."  
  
"No, no no, I am not about to ask out a guy. I am the girl, and yes, maybe old-fashioned, but I still want to be asked out because that's the way it's supposed to be."  
  
"Oh c'mon, Lor, I mean..." she looked around for inspiration and saw Sirius Black and James Potter high five each other at the end of the table. "You go on and on about Sirius, and you too Elisa, the same thing with James, but you never did anything about it! And you know that Remus so has a thing for you, Lindz!"  
  
The three girls in question all looked slightly pleased with themselves for several seconds. Corinne decided to continue now while they were in a good mood. "C'mon, we're modern, mature women, we can ask a guy out." They all gave her a look, and finally Elisa asked, "Well ok then, but who are you asking out?"  
  
"Oh, I don't really know yet, but I'll find someone,' she tried to say casually, as she once again grabbed Lorelei's knife from her threatening fist. 


	3. A Morning Walk

Hey hey! Next chappie! ~The Redheaded Duck~  
  
The rest of the week went extremely slow, especially with the growing pile of homework that the fifth years received. The common room was often still occupied well after midnight, as everyone struggled to finish all of their schoolwork. It was Saturday, however, that Elisa, Corinne, Lorelei, and Lindsay, were not looking forward to, because they were all still dateless and unhappy about it. Corinne tried to make it seem like it wasn't a big deal, but the rest were all mad at themselves for not living up to the promise that they had half-heartedly made. It wasn't until the grounds of Hogwarts were covered with a light blanket of snow that the castle itself seemed to perk up. It was very early Saturday morning, and the snow made another appearance, only this time very loud against the window; so loud that it woke Elisa up. She noticed that her other dorm members seemed to be unaffected by this, and now she couldn't very well go back to sleep. It was only a little after six, so she decided to grab her cloak and take a short walk in the new, clean snow that she loved. She slipped silently out of the dorm, down to the empty common room, past the Great Hall, and finally out of the castle. As her feet became engrossed in the snow on the ground, her thoughts became engrossed with a particular "Marauder".  
  
* A bottle of white *  
  
The sound came from nowhere Elisa could see...  
  
* A bottle of red *  
  
It sounded like a song being whispered...  
  
* Perhaps a bottle of rose instead *  
  
She couldn't think of where it came from, but the song, or whatever it was, seemed to stir something from deep within her soul, as if they were memories from a past life. Unfortunately, learning at a magical school tends to make you take "weird" things for granted after some time, so Elisa had forgotten all about the mysterious voice as she finished her walk and headed back to the castle. Of course, who did she bump into but James Potter? He wore casual Muggle sweats with a blue t-shirt that said "Marauder" underneath his black cloak. He held his broomstick in one hand and there was a slight pink tint in his cheeks, as if from the cold, even though he wasn't even outside yet. "Um. Hi. Um. What are you um, up early. Um?" It almost pained Elisa to see him stammer so ungrammatically, but then again, she usually had that affect on guys.  
  
"Yeah, I woke up early. What about you?"  
  
"I love this kind of weather. Even when it snows, as long as it's not too much, it's great to fly in." He smiled, and looked embarrassed. "So what are you doing today?"  
  
Elisa's heart pounded, she was sure James could hear it, but she fought to keep her cool. "Hogsmeade, you know, I need some, uh, Pet Peppermints, uh, for my dog. His breath, phew, pretty bad," she waved a hand in front of her face as if she was swatting a fly, and forced a laugh. "What about you?"  
  
He shrugged, and said he'd do the same, in a voice as if he'd rather not talk about it. Just as Elisa started to get disappointed that she would really have to turn up to her friends dateless, James stammered once again, "So, do you, wanna maybe, go, you know, to Hogsmeade? With uh, me?" He stared down at her snow-covered shoes.  
  
"Yeah, I'd love to," she flashed her mega-watt smile.  
  
"Really?" He ran a hand through his hair subconsciously, and smiled. "Great. There's a new Italian place, maybe we can check it out." His nervous face became relaxed again, and Elisa remembered how cute he was.  
  
She started to walk back to Gryffindor Tower, when he called her. "Oh, and Lis?" She smiled at the sound of her nickname on his lips, counted to three, and turned around with a nonchalant look on her face. "You better wipe your feet, Filch'll kill you if you get snow all over the place." He grinned broadly, and went outside to fly. 


	4. Early Morning Reading Tendencies

Chappie 4 of "A Bottle of Red". WoOt. R/R! ~The Redheaded Duck~  
  
"Guys! Woot! Guess what?" Elisa's still-wet feet pounded on the stairs up to her dormitory. She burst through the door. "Guess..."  
  
Empty. Messy, vacant beds. No note. Where could they be this early? She made her way downstairs to the common room, which was empty except for some chattering, stalker-type third year boys. They all followed her out of the common room and Elisa didn't even notice until they were halfway down the hall.  
  
"Uh, can I help you?" She asked a bit annoyed.  
  
"We were, um, wanting to wash your hair, miss," a brave one said, squeaking as if he were a house elf. Elisa inwardly laughed at the affect she had on people.  
  
"Well, can I get back to you? I have to tell my friends something, then we'll make arrangements for a hair washing!" The stalkers all looked overjoyed at the thought of this and wobbled back to the common room in a clump.  
  
Elisa wandered the tower aimlessly before passing by the library. She knew that her friends sometimes had occasional tendencies to crave reading at early hours of the morning.  
  
"Dudes, guess what?" She yelled out as soon as she saw her friends' faces in the corner of the library, earning her a mean glare from Madame Pince. Lindsay motioned for her to come over to the table she, Lorelei, and Corinne were sitting at. "What's going on?" she asked looking confused.  
  
"We're waiting for Remus to come over and talk to Lindz," Lorelei answered. "I heard it from some guy at the Hufflepuff table who was talking to his friend, who said that he heard Frank talk to Peter about how Remus was telling James and Sirius that he was going to ask Lindsay out."  
  
"Ohh." Elisa was used to used, coming from Lorelei.  
  
"He's getting up, he's coming this way, he's... gone to get another book. Ugh, I never knew that there were people in this world that read more than we do. That's the third this morning." Lorelei sat back in her chair, as if it was the guy that she liked that she had to wait for.  
  
"Wish we had a video camera." Lindsay said, not taking her eyes off Remus.  
  
"Or popcorn, I'm hungry." Corinne added.  
  
"Guys, I have news..." But nobody heard Elisa just yet. She was about to burst with excitement.  
  
"So what about you, Corinne, found anyone?" Lorelei sat up again in her chair, her period of bitchyness somewhat suspended.  
  
Corinne sighed and laughed. "Nope, no takers... You?" "Nah, Sirius hasn't spoken to me since I sold his pants for 20 Galleons."  
  
The girls all nodded and waited for the statement to sink in. "Ohhh." The sad part was, that knowing Lorelei, she wasn't joking.  
  
Finally, the quiet moment Elisa needed arrived, and she said again, "Guys..." "What??"  
"I'm going to Hogsmeade with James Potter!" 


	5. Versace! Prada!

Introducing: the gay guys of NYC! WoOt! ~The Redheaded Duck~  
  
The girls spent the morning with Elisa's stalkers washing her already shiny hair with Herbal Essences Extra Shine formula. Back in the Great Hall, as they were waiting to leave for Hogsmeade, Corinne looked at the Slytherin table with a dispirited look in her eyes and said, "You know, Elisa was the only one brave enough to ask out a guy." Elisa actually felt guilty for a moment, and was about to admit that it had been James who asked her, but her thoughts of confession were interrupted by a light touch on her shoulder. "Ready to go?" he asked.  
  
"Sure." She got up gracefully, and whispered to her friends, "We'll meet up in 3B ok? Laters!" Just then, she thought she heard music coming from somewhere.  
  
I remember those days hanging out at the village green  
  
Engineer boots, leather jackets and tight blue jeans  
  
Cold beer, hot lights  
  
My sweet romantic teenage nights  
  
"Elisa? You ok?" She snapped back to reality, and saw the concerned faces of her friends and James. "Yeah, I'm fine. Let's go."  
  
The walls of the restaurant were lined with pictures (moving, of course) of witch and wizard chefs. The tables were covered in checkered tablecloths, and the place smelled like great pasta sauce. The couple sat in a secluded booth in the back, and for the next couple of hours, sat and ate and talked. Elisa never realized how comfortable she could be with a guy, especially one she didn't know very well. She now knew things about him that she was sure James never even told Sirius, and she spoke to him as she did with Lindsay, her closest friend of the three.  
  
Just as she was telling James how she and Lindsay would yell "Versace! Prada!" through the streets of New York, in hopes of catching a gay guy (you knew they we re gay of they suddenly yelled "WHERE?" ) on their summers at home, she heard a very familiar voice.  
  
"Bam!" Boomer (Lindsay) and Bam (Elisa) had been the nicknames they gave each other when they first became close friends. "Boomer" had originally been a not-so-flattering nickname for a Muggle friend of theirs, but when she was slightly less than responsive to it, Lindsay took it, saying it was too good a name to pass up.  
  
And now, who else but Lindz would do this, Elisa thought, interrupt my date with James Potter. She tried to be mad at her, but knew it would never work, so she just gave up.  
  
Remus soon followed Lindsay (it's about time, Elisa thought), then Lorelei and Sirius, and finally Corinne and Lucius Malfoy. Elisa saw Lindsay scan the room to find their location, (so she screamed my name without even knowing if I was here or not?) and lead the group toward the back where she and James were sitting. Lindsay grabbed a chair, even though someone was already sitting in it, pulled it over to their table, and ate one of their garlic sticks, all the while looking as if this was something she did every day.  
  
And knowing Lindsay, she probably did. 


	6. The Midnight Duck

"What is HE doing here?" asked Elisa, motioning to Malfoy. James was already standing up with his wand out, and Corinne and Elisa got between James and Malfoy to try and separate the two enemies. "Alright, Potter, I don't want any trouble today. I'm just here for the redhead." Corinne stood next to him, about a foot shorter, and smiled contentedly. James peered down at her for a second, as if to say, "You're fraternizing with the enemy", but he just put his wand away and sat down next to Elisa, putting his arm around her. Just then, a song came on that all the girls knew, and they all jumped up to dance.  
  
* Brenda and Eddie were the popular steadies and the king and the  
queen of the prom * Riding around with the car top down and the radio  
on *  
  
They were all dancing with each other rather than their dates, but  
when the song reached a slower point, James got up to dance with  
Elisa. She and Lindsay were in the middle of a grind when the music  
slowed, and James cut in, leaving Lindsay with Remus.  
  
* A bottle of red * A bottle of white * whatever kind of mood you're  
in tonight *  
  
Elisa felt so good in James's arms; she didn't want the night to end. But the infamous Billy Joel song only lasted for so long before they were dragged back to the table by their friends and ordering more garlic sticks. (A/N: have you noticed I LOVE garlic sticks?)  
  
The group only left Hogsmeade after they were kicked out of Honeydukes for being too noisy, for the sixth time. The girls spent the rest of the night talking about their day and how they all managed a date with "their guy". After some time, even talk of that grew boring, and they drifted off to sleep. Elisa was woken not long after by the sound of something outside her window. "Can't a girl get some sleep around here?" Elisa grumbled under her breath. "First the loud snow, now what, annoying flying pebbles?" She was shocked to find James's head floating right outside her window. She walked over and opened it slightly, careful not to let too much cold air in. "Hey, Lis, watcha doin'?" he asked, as if there was nothing unusual about this situation. "I was sleeping, surprisingly." "Ever flown before?" Elisa just realized he was on his broom. "Well, no, not exactly, but, I don't know... what if we're seen?" James said nothing, just pulled out a piece of shimmery fabric from his pocket and pulled it over his head. He disappeared instantly. Invisibility Cloak. She should have known. She paused, before leaving, to scribble a quick note for her friends. "The shiny-haired duck flies at midnight, and does not die because she is saved by her new boy toy." (A/N: the "duck flying at midnight" thing is a big inside joke with my friends, so just nod and smile.)  
As she eased herself onto the broom, James asked her, "You scared?"  
"You insult me, James!" 


	7. One Too Many Garlic Sticks

The much anticipated (yeah, right) chapter 7 of ~A Bottle of Red~  
  
Later, after a full tour of the Hogwarts grounds, with a hilarious commentary provided by James, Elisa started to reflect back on the night.  
  
*Slow down you crazy child *  
  
*You're so ambitious for a juvenile *  
  
*But if you're so smart then tell me, why are you still so afraid? *  
  
Why did she feel as if James was always hiding something from her? That, even after all that had been said back at the Three Broomsticks, he was still holding himself back from telling her the one thing she needed to know? There were moments when he seemed distracted, and when he realized that Elisa noticed he tried extra hard to be funny or romantic, as if to make up for it.  
  
*Slow down you're doing fine *  
  
*You can't do everything you want before you're time *  
  
*Although it's romantic on the borderline tonight *  
  
*Too bad but it's the life you lead *  
  
*You're so ahead of yourself *  
  
*That you forget what you need *  
  
Me, Elisa thought and smiled to herself.  
  
They eventually made their way back to Elisa's dorm, and as she climbed back through the window, James was about to say goodnight, when she turned around and interrupted him by planting her lips on his. When they finally pulled apart, she paused before opening her eyes, as if to savor the moment. When she did open them, James had a weird look on his face. Hmm, one too many garlic sticks, she thought.  
But he was looking over her shoulder, and sure enough, when Elisa turned around, she saw three heads scramble quickly back into their bed curtains. Elisa looked back at James, embarrassed, but he just gave her a peck on the cheek and whispered, "That's my cue. Bye Elisa." 


	8. The Staten Island Ferry

A/N: This is taking place about 10 years after graduation, and the POV switches between Elisa and James.  
  
8th and Final Chapter of ~A Bottle of Red~  
  
James sat at his desk, head leaning on one hand, his wand in the other. Most of the lights were out, and he was one of the very few still left in the office, but he didn't want to go home. Going home would be being with her, and he didn't want to be with her. Yes, in a way he did love her, he had loved her his entire life, but she always seemed to be missing something. Poor Lily. She was too good for him. He didn't give her the real love she deserved, because he really loved somebody else, and she was on his mind once more.  
  
Elisa dialed the familiar number frantically, almost breaking the phone as she pounded the numbers. She waited four whole rings for an answer, and didn't bother with saying hello before she started yelling, "It's James! He wants to see me again!" "What the guy from last night? I thought you liked him!" "Not HIM, Boomer, James Potter!" Elisa heard a sigh come from the other end of the line, before Lindsay said, "I'll be right over."  
  
"Yes", he thought, "I'll write to her, just tell her how I feel. Maybe she'll agree to see me again. I'll never know 'till I try..."  
  
"So what does it say?" asked Lindsay as soon as she walked in the door, and grabbed some cookies off Elisa's counter. "Read it," said Elisa, throwing her the letter and putting her head down on the table in disgust.  
  
*If I only had the words to tell you, If you only had the time to understand, Though I know it couldn't change your feelings and I know you'll carry on as best you can, if I only had the urge to tell you, if you only knew how hard it is to say, when all the simple lines have been taken, and the radio repeats them every day, if I never find a song to sing you, if you always find it hard to comprehend, well you know there wouldn't be much meaning, if I had to sing those tired words again  
  
Please meet me at our Italian restaurant.*  
  
"You haven't seen him since grad, have you?"  
  
"Nope. He went off to Auror training a little while after, and then later on I heard he got a job at the Ministry." Elisa paced back and forth across the room.  
  
"Lindz, what am I going to do???"  
  
"I think you should see him. He may just want to catch up, see how you're doing. Or maybe, maybe, he just," she paused, looking uncertain, "maybe he still loves you."  
  
"What do you mean, still? We were 15, what did we know about love?"  
  
"Well, then he certainly old enough now, just give him a chance."  
  
Walking into the once-familiar restaurant brought back a flood of memories Elisa thought had disappeared over the years. She had usually avoided this place when she was shopping in Hogsmeade with her friends, but being here now was still painful.  
  
The same tablecloths, the same great smell of tomato sauce, and the same memories that pierced his soul.  
  
"Hi, James."  
  
He spun around, and there she was, more beautiful than ever. "How you doing?" he asked, trying to remain cool, even though it was taking him serious self control to keep from salivating all over.  
  
"How you doing?" She thought of New York, and how his accent was nothing like those of her old boyfriends back home, yet at that moment she honestly felt that she wouldn't trade his voice for anything in the world.  
  
"I'm fine", she answered, painfully aware of the rigidity and formality in her voice that she couldn't control. "How are you?"  
  
*Things are ok with me these days, got a good job, got a good office, got a new wife, got a new life and the family's fine, we lost touch long ago, you lost weight, I did not know you could ever look so good after so much time*  
  
"You flatter me, James."  
  
"It's true. You look great." He tried to play it off, but he was really astounded, not so much now about how great she looked, but more so how he ever managed to forget it.  
  
"What do you want?" she asked, her voice sounding as if she was trying to be soft, but the stiffness took over.  
  
"I wanted to see you," he stammered, slightly taken back. "I, uh", he paused, searching the ground, as if the answer to his problems were roaming around on the floor beneath him, "I missed you."  
  
"You missed me? Baby all the lights are on you now, now you're in the center of the stage. Everyone revolves around you now, you're in your prime, you've come of age. And you can always have your way somehow, 'cause everyone loves you now."  
  
"--We were the popular steadies, and the king and the queen of the prom, surely we never knew we could want more out of life, surely we would always know how to survive--"  
  
"You can walk away from your mistakes, you can turn your back on what you do, just a little smile is all it takes. Yeah, you can have your cake and eat it too. And they all want your white body, and they all await your reply, but between you and me and the Staten Island Ferry, so do I."  
  
James almost started to talk again, but was confused by the Staten Island reference. "Wait, what's Staten Island?"  
  
Elisa looked annoyed, as if the conversation was not going as planned, and said resentfully, "Where I grew up. It's in New York, but no one has ever really heard of it unless they live there." She paused, noticing James' still-confused face. "See? It's happened again!"  
  
James continued, "Elisa, you must begin again, all the roads you've walked are coming to an end. I was your lover but I thought I was your friend, I loved you but I thought I was your friend--"  
  
"You know that nothing lasts forever, and it's all been done before--" She was done. She didn't want to hear anymore. It was too painful for her. She started to walk away but James still sang-  
  
"Turn around, I will sing you a song. I don't know where you've been but you've been gone too long." He stepped in front of her, and looked at her with those puppy eyes that they both knew nobody could resist.  
  
"You have lost your innocence somehow, but everybody loves you now."  
  
Elisa struggled to get those last words out, as she realized that she included herself in that group. 


End file.
